SHIPMENTS of the iPhone 6 helped boost air-cargo figures in the Asia-Pacific in September, resulting in regional growth beating the global average.
But aviation officials warn the improvement in global business confidence has stagnated and this could hit air cargo.
Asia-Pacific carriers emerged from a first-quarter slowdown to post a 5.7 per cent increase in cargo traffic compared to a global average of 5.2 per cent.
The International Air Transport Association said the region was benefiting from a rebound in trade activity that included increased air-freight shipments from China. Capacity rose 5.6 per cent, leaving load factors relatively flat. The 5.2 per cent rise in global freight tonne kilometres was 0.8 percentage points ahead of the 4.4 per cent average growth in demand for the year so far.
“Although the overall growth rate continues the positive trend of recent months, regional variations are significant,” IATA said.
“Airlines in Asia-Pacific, North America, Middle East and Africa all posted strong growth figures (between 5 per cent and 17 per cent above the previous year’s levels).
“European airlines, however, saw a decline of 1.6 per cent compared to September 2013 and Latin American airlines reported little difference from 2013 with growth of just 0.3 per cent.”
IATA director general Tony Tyler said the European decline was “a worrying trend” reflecting general uncertainty in the European economy amplified by sanctions against Russia.
“Overall, improvements in global business confidence have stagnated, which could mean a bumpy road ahead,” Mr Tyler said.
The IATA director was more upbeat about global passenger growth, which rose 5.3 per cent in September as load factors inched ahead to 80.3 per cent.
Asia-Pacific airlines were up 4.8 per cent on a year ago.
This was a weaker rise than August, but IATA said the trend was positive and reflected better demand conditions in the region, including stronger trade activity. European growth slowed to 3.9 per cent, but was hit by a 14-day Air France strike and weakness in the eurozone economy.
Load factors on European carriers hit 84.7 per cent, the highest for any region and a 1 percentage point rise on last year. North America recorded the second lowest demand rise of 2.1 per cent while Middle East carriers were the highest at 15.8 per cent.
Africa brought up the rear with growth of just 1.8 per cent compared to last year, down significantly on the August year-on-year growth of 7 per cent.
IATA cautioned this could not be necessarily interpreted as a result of the Ebola epidemic, due to the region’s volatility.
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